- Game Options - CannisRules adds many new multiplayer game modes, and modifies existing ones to offer more choices for both online and skirmish play. The game setup menu options are altered as well, within the limitations of the game engine. To help you select the game mode you want to play from the many choices available, they are divided into game type categories on the game setup screen. Each game type has its own set of rules, which apply to all the game modes in that category. To the left you can see a mock-up image of the in-game setup menu, which depicts the 3 game types, and their game modes. In the actual game, you would have to scroll to see all of them. And of course, not all of these modes are available for skirmish play. The image does give a good overview, though. Further down on this page you can read about what each game mode type is, and how it differs from the others. After that, you can read the descriptions of each game mode. Many of the game modes are new, and some of the stock game modes have been changed a bit also.

Game Mode Types As you can see from the above image, there are 3 game mode types in CannisRules. --------------  BoP   Balance of Power. Simply put, the Balance of Power game type defines game modes which use rules you would expect from the unmodded game, played using the Balance of Power modifications. --------------  BR   Beyond Revenge. The Beyond Revenge game type builds upon the BoP modes, by adding new buildable country-specific options at the Battle Lab tech level. These new additions are powerful, unique... and expensive. You'll need a healthy economy to make use of them. But, they build much faster than their prices would suggest, so if you have the cash, it is possible to build several in a reasonable amount of time. Beyond Revenge options are only normally buildable in the Beyond Revenge game modes. However you may encounter them in other modes as well, as possible Secret Lab build options, or from random goodie crates. You can read all about this tech expansion on the Beyond Revenge page. --------------  SD   Super Détente. Super Détente is a modified version of BoP which treats superweapons differently, and can be played either of two ways. If you elect to disable superweapons on the game setup screen, then you will have disabled the Weather Control Device, Nuclear Missile Silo, and Psychic Dominator... but players will still be able to build the Chronosphere, Iron Curtain, and Genetic Mutator. This is useful if you want to play a game which makes use of the 'tactical' supers, but does not allow the 'strategic' supers. If you instead elect to enable superweapons, then you will be able to build all the supers just as you would expect. However, in these modes, the high-level 'strategic' superweapon buildings cost twice as much to build. Once built, they drain a significant amount of credits from your treasury, for as long as they exist. A player who builds a strategic superweapon under these conditions, may well find himself too cash-poor to continue the fight using conventional units.

Game Modes These are the game modes available in the mod. The icons  BoP ,  BR , and  SD  indicate what game type categories the modes are available in, as not all modes are available in all game type categories, for obvious reasons. It is important to note that the player alliance system has been changed. It is now possible to ally, or not, in all game modes. If you want a FFA game, just set all alliances to unassigned teams. It is also possible to play FFA games on teamplay maps. However, realize that once the game begins, existing alliances can never be broken, and new alliances can never be formed. CannisRules also modifies AI behavior in skirmish play. All skirmish game modes will see AI players (which are not on the same team) more likely to attack each other, instead of just tending to gang up on the player. -------------- Battle & Free-for-All Game Types  BoP   BR   SD  Random Maps Yes AI Players Yes This is the familiar Battle and Free-for-All modes combined into a single game mode. To play a FFA game, set all alliances to unassigned teams.     -------------- Team Alliance Game Types  BoP   BR   SD  Random Maps Yes AI Players Yes Given the changes to the alliance system, this is the same as Battle & FFA in terms of how it plays. Rather than combine it with Battle & FFA, it remains as a separate game mode, so as to provide legacy support for Team Alliance fanmaps. -------------- Assault Game Types  BoP   BR  Random Maps No AI Players Yes In this new game mode, all players are assigned a Flag at game start. Destroying your enemy's Assault Flag will result in his immediate and total destruction, in a spectacular fashion! Your Assault Flag is a sturdy structure and is not that easy to take out. But it is imperative that you defend it, or it's all over for you. Only 3 units in the game have the ability to destroy an Assault Flag in one shot: Chrono Commando, Psi Commando, and Chrono Ivan. As a result, a build limit of 1 has been imposed for each of these units when playing Assault. And, to help keep you on edge, you won't be able to find free MCVs in crates. Assault requires special maps, which are NOT included with CannisRules. To play Assault, you will need to get the Yuri's Revenge Assault Mappacks. -------------- Capture the Flag Game Types  BoP   BR  Random Maps No AI Players Yes This new game mode is a variation of Assault, and uses the same special maps that the Assault modes do. In CTF modes, it is impossible to attack and destroy the Flag. Instead, you must destroy it by capturing with an Engineer. You cannot carry a Flag around, nor can you recapture a lost Flag - once an Engineer captures a player's Flag, that player is instantly destroyed. Since Engineers are essential for winning the game, all Flags give their owners free Paradrops - each of which includes 2 free Engineers. These paradrops are available at 7 minute intervals instead of the normal 4 minute interval in other game modes. And, just like in Assault, you won't be able to find free MCVs in crates. Since the Flag already gives players paradrops, Tech Airports are redundant. Therefore, all instances of Tech Airports on maps will be replaced with Tech Machine Shops when playing Capture the Flag. While CTF enables AI players, please be aware that the AI behavior is a bit buggy. The AI will make futile attacks on an enemy's flag, and in the process may kill their own Engineers with splash damage. Capture the Flag requires special maps, which are NOT included with CannisRules. To play CTF, you will need to get the Yuri's Revenge Assault Mappacks. -------------- Naval War Game Types  BoP   SD  Random Maps Yes AI Players Yes The option to build superweapons has been added in this mode, which adds another level of strategy for naval games. It's also possible to make use of the Yuri's Revenge 'random map' function, to offer more battlefield variation, since there really aren't a lot of naval maps to play on. Just be sure to make a map with lots of water, of course. AI players have also been enabled, but please note that the AI's behavior is even less intelligent than usual in this mode, and that only 2 AI navies will be active at a time. Since CannisRules allows all 3 sides to build air transports, they have been enabled in this mode also. However, in Naval War, the Allied Nighthawk has no weapons, and is only useful as a transport, not for attacking. -------------- Meat Grinder Game Type  BoP  Random Maps Yes AI Players Yes This mode is basically unchanged, except that AI players have been enabled, but please note that the AI's behavior is not very robust at all in this mode.   -------------- Megawealth Game Types  BoP   BR   SD  Random Maps No AI Players No The main change made to this mode concerns the Allied side. Since the Allied Ore Purifier is useless, Allies get to build the Allied Construction Plant instead.   -------------- Unholy Alliance Game Types  BoP   BR   SD  Random Maps Yes AI Players No Several building prerequisite inconsistencies have been corrected, and at the same time, many building prerequisites have been simply changed, to allow a broader ability to jump from tech to tech for build orders. For example, owning any radar now lets you build any Battle Lab. Also, the Yuri's Revenge 'random map' function has been enabled. -------------- Unholy Skirmish Game Types  BoP   BR   SD  Random Maps Yes AI Players Yes This new game mode is a clone of Unholy Alliance, except that AI players are allowed. It is designed for skirmish players, so they can play using the UA game rules. Players will not start with all 3 MCVs in this mode; they will only start with their side's MCV. However they will be able to build the other side's MCVs once they've built the proper buildings. The AI will play just as it does in regular Battle & FFA mode, and will not build any buildings or units that do not belong to its side. -------------- Land Rush Game Types  BoP   BR   SD  Random Maps No AI Players No No changes from the standard Land Rush mode here, except that all sides (including Yuri) will start with an assortment of Allied and Soviet Attack Dogs for fairness reasons.   -------------- Cooperative Campaign Game Type  BoP  Random Maps No AI Players No Given that coop campaign maps rely on the same sort of triggers and scripted events that the single-player campaign does, the mod conditions in effect are identical to when the single-player campaign is active (new buildings, and the like, are not available).

Menu Options Starting Units. You can set the number of starting units in a multiplayer game to anything between 0 to 20 units. Starting Money. You can set starting credits for a multiplayer game to anything between 5,000 to 20,000, at increments of 250 credits. Build Off Ally. The "Build Off Ally Conyards" option has been changed to read "Build Off Ally Buildings". No longer are you limited to building off your ally's Conyard. Now you can build adjacent to any of your ally's structures (except for defensive structures of course). This should add a lot of flexibility in team games, so one player can concentrate on building tanks while his ally concentrates on building defenses to guard them both. This option is now much more useful in skirmish games, where your computer ally is not very accomodating in giving you room to build off his Conyard. And you can build off your ally's tech buildings as well! Random Maps. This option is enabled for more game modes. Naturally the user should use some discretion in setting parameters for a new random map, since it makes little sense to create a map without water for a Naval War game :) Unit Building Queue. Once in the game, you can queue up to 50 units rather than just 30.

Continue the tour of CannisRules to learn about the improvements to the Skirmish AI.